In a swift two-day trial in Del Rio, a federal jury nailed 39-year-old U.K. citizen Nancy Chan, a City of Austin employee, for orchestrating a marriage fraud scheme aimed at securing lawful permanent residency. Chan was found guilty on one count of conspiracy to commit marriage fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, marking a high-profile fall for a public worker who exploited personal and professional connections to game the immigration system.
Isabel Metzler, a 46-year-old former Customs and Border Protection officer stationed at the Eagle Pass Port of Entry, admitted her role by pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit marriage fraud. Her husband, Luis Morales, a 37-year-old CBP officer at the same location, copped to making a false statement to a federal agent. Both entered pleas as the trial unfolded, exposing a web of deception that stretched from Maverick County to Austin.
The government proved that Chan, after confiding in her friend Metzler about her immigration woes, entered a sham marriage with a U.S. citizen known to both Metzler and Morales. The fraudulent union was formalized on March 2, 2011, in Maverick County. Three years later, in 2014, Chan and her legal spouse submitted falsified documents to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to obtain Lawfully Admitted Permanent Resident (LAPR) status and begin naturalization proceedings.
When interviewed separately by immigration officials, the couple’s stories unraveled. Their answers were riddled with inconsistencies—raising red flags that triggered a deeper investigation. Agents uncovered that the marriage had no legitimate foundation and was maintained solely to manipulate immigration authorities and extend Chan’s stay in the United States.
Metzler admitted to setting up the fraudulent marriage and helping conceal it. Morales confessed that on February 9, 2016, he lied to investigators from the Customs and Border Protection Office of Professional Responsibility about his knowledge of the scheme and pressured the U.S. citizen spouse to keep up the charade. His false statement charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison.
Chan now faces up to five years for conspiracy to commit marriage fraud and up to 20 additional years for conspiracy to commit mail fraud. Metzler also faces five years. All three defendants are awaiting sentencing, with Chan remanded into U.S. Marshals Service custody immediately after the verdict. Metzler and Morales remain on bond. The case was jointly investigated by CBP’s Office of Professional Responsibility, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the FBI, and the Austin Police Department, and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Patrick Burke and Todd Keagle.
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Key Facts
- State: Texas
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: Official Source ↗
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